Banana Cookies

These Banana Cookies are soft and chewy and topped with a smooth cream cheese frosting! They’re the most delicious way to use up those ripe bananas sitting on your counter!!

When you’ve got ripe bananas to use up, what’s your go-to recipe? Perhaps it’s banana bread? Frosted banana bars? Or my Banana Muffins? 

I love having overripe bananas and often purchase too many bananas on purpose so I end up with leftover to bake with!  These soft cookies are a fun and delicious treat my family simply LOVES as they’re packed with banana flavor and coated with a smooth cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients Needed (amounts in recipe card below)

If you’ve got ripe bananas and the typical pantry staples….ya know, flour, sugar, butter, etc., you probably have all the simple ingredients you need to make these.

• Butter – Salted or unsalted butter will work great.
• White Sugar and Brown Sugar – I like using a combination in this recipe. You get the sweetness from both and the brown sugar adds a little extra flavor and keeps the cookies soft.
• Egg – This helps give the cookies it’s soft, cakey texture and holds the cookies together so they don’t end up crumbly.
• Mashed Bananas – This recipe will use two large bananas or three small bananas.
• Vanilla Extract – You’ll need this for the cookies and for the frosting.
• Salt 
• Baking Soda – This is the leavening agent in these cookies, so make sure it’s not expired!
• All-Purpose Flour
• Cream Cheese – This is the start of your frosting, and in my opinion, the most delicious part of these cookies!!  You can use full-fat or the 1/3 less fat cream cheese.
• Powdered Sugar – aka confectioner’s sugar.
• Chopped Nuts – These are optional, but they are a nice textural addition and bring more flavor to the cookies.

How to make Soft Banana Cookies

Make the Cookies

Start by preheating the oven and lining your cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl with a hand mixer), add the softened butter, sugar and brown sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.

Then, add the egg, mashed banana and vanilla.  Be sure to use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure the ingredients are all incorporated.

Then you’ll add the dry ingredients and stir until smooth.

Use a cookie scoop to transfer the dough onto the cookie sheet, making sure to give some space between each cookie so they can rise and expand. Using a cookie scoop will ensure that the cookies are all the same size and will therefore bake evenly.

Bake the cookies until they’re golden brown, let cool for a couple minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Make the Frosting

When the cookies are cool, it’s time to add the cream cheese frosting!!

Doing so is simple – you’ll start with the softened cream cheese then add the powdered sugar and vanilla.  Once it’s smooth, it’s ready to be spread onto the cookies!

Garnish the Cookies

These cookies are great as-is, but you can also top them if you’d like!  Adding a sprinkle of chopped pecans is delicious.  You could also press a dried banana chip into the center of each cookie!

Can you Freeze Banana Cookies?

Absolutely! And actually, you can freeze them with or without the frosting on them. 

If you choose to frost them without the frosting, simply stack the cookies in an airtight container or freezer bag. You will want to place a sheet of waxed paper between the layers of cookies, though, so they don’t stick together.

How to quickly ripen bananas

Want to make this banana cookie recipe or your favorite banana bread recipe, but your bananas just aren’t quite ripe enough yet? 

• Preheat oven to 300F.
• Place the banana(s) on a sheet pan (in case the juices leak out of them a bit).
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until soft and black like the banana on the right in the photo below.
• Remove the bananas from the oven, peel and place the banana into a bowl to let cool. You will want to let these cool to room temperature so you don’t cook the eggs when mixing them into the batter.

Banana Cookie Variations

• Chocolate Chips – Banana chocolate chip cookies are always a great idea! Stir in 1 cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter before baking and a sprinkle a few on top of the frosting!
• Peanut Butter – One of my favorite snacks is a banana with peanut butter spread on it. (Soooo good!) Create Peanut Butter Banana Cookies by adding ½ c chopped peanuts into the batter and spreading peanut butter frosting on top (in place of the cream cheese frosting). 
• Brown Butter Banana Cookies – Brown the butter and let it cool completely before adding to the batter.  This will add lots of depth to the cookie and is a flavor that pairs well with banana!
• Extra Nutty – When it comes to banana recipes, I love to load them with pecans or walnuts! The recipe calls for the (optional) nuts just on top, but you can also add 1 cup of chopped nuts into the batter before baking. It’ll add more nutty flavor and a nice crunch!

Other Soft Cookies You’ll Love